Choosing the Right Email for Your Business
Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or the email that came with your website — what the difference actually means for your business, in plain English
Which One Are You Currently On?
Most Perth businesses are on one of three email setups. The one you are on makes a significant difference to how secure your business is, how well your staff can work, and whether you are meeting your legal obligations. Here is how to tell which one applies to you.
Option A — Microsoft 365
Your staff log in at outlook.com or use the Outlook app. You pay a monthly fee per person, probably through an IT company or directly with Microsoft.
Option B — Google Workspace
Your staff log in at gmail.com or through your Google account. Everything lives in the browser — Google Docs, Sheets, Drive.
Option C — Email from your website host
Your email runs through the same company that hosts your website — Crazy Domains, VentraIP, Netregistry or similar. You set it up in Outlook or your phone as IMAP or POP3.
If you are not sure which one you are on, call DM1 on (08) 6202 6012 and we will tell you in under two minutes.
What You Actually Get — Side by Side
The table below uses plain English to explain what each platform includes, what it does not, and what that means for your business day to day. Scroll right on a phone.
| What you need | Microsoft 365 ⭐ (DM1 recommended) |
Google Workspace | Email through your website host |
|---|---|---|---|
| How you read your email | The full Outlook app on your computer, phone and tablet — plus a browser version if you need it | Gmail in a browser or the Gmail app on your phone | Webmail through your web host, or you set it up manually in Outlook or Apple Mail |
| Word, Excel and PowerPoint | Fully installed on up to 5 devices per person — the real desktop apps, not a browser version | Browser only — Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. Opens in Chrome, not on your desktop | Not included — you need to buy Office separately |
| How much email storage you get | 50 GB per person — plus 1 TB of file storage on top | 30 GB shared between email and files | Usually 1–5 GB per address, shared with other customers on the same server |
| Shared email addresses (e.g. info@ or accounts@) |
✓ — create as many as you need at no extra cost | Possible but requires workarounds | ✗ — not available |
| Protection from spam, scam emails and fake invoices | Microsoft scans every email for dangerous links, fake senders and malicious attachments before they reach your inbox | Google filters spam and some threats. Solid but not as thorough as Microsoft for business use | Basic spam filtering only — no protection against scam emails or fake invoice attacks |
| Stopping someone from logging in if they steal your password | ✓ — you can block logins from unknown locations or devices. A stolen password alone is not enough to get in | ✓ — available on higher-tier plans | ✗ — anyone with your password can log in from anywhere in the world |
| Extra login security (a code sent to your phone each time you log in) |
✓ — built in and can be made mandatory for all staff | ✓ — built in | Sometimes available, sometimes not — depends on the provider |
| Managing company phones and laptops remotely (wipe a lost device, enforce security settings) |
✓ — included. Wipe a lost phone, lock down devices, push settings to all computers automatically | Basic version included. Limited compared to Microsoft | ✗ — not available |
| Protection against scammers pretending to be you (sending fake emails from your domain) |
✓ — built in and set up as part of the Microsoft 365 configuration | ✓ — built in | Manual setup required and rarely done correctly — most businesses on web hosting have this gap without knowing it |
| Your sending reputation (whether your emails land in inboxes or junk) |
Microsoft sends your email from dedicated, trusted infrastructure. Your reputation is yours alone | Google sends your email from dedicated, trusted infrastructure | Your emails share a sending server with every other customer on your web host. One bad actor on that server can affect whether your emails reach the inbox |
| Keeping old emails for legal or compliance reasons | ✓ — set policies to keep emails for 7 years, put a legal hold on a mailbox, search across all staff email if needed | Available on higher-tier plans only | ✗ — not available. No way to enforce retention or search across mailboxes |
| A record of who accessed what and when | ✓ — full audit log. Know exactly who logged in, when, from where, and what they did | Partial — admin activity is logged, not all user activity | ✗ — no audit logging of any kind |
| Where your emails are physically stored | Microsoft datacentres — Australian storage available | Google datacentres globally — Australian location not guaranteed on standard plans | Your web host's server — often overseas, no guarantee of location |
| What happens to your emails if you cancel | Your emails stay in your Microsoft 365 account. Cancelling a hosting contract has no effect on your email | Your emails stay in your Google account | Your email is tied to your hosting account. Cancel or move your website — and your email history goes with it |
| Meets Australian Privacy Act requirements | ✓ — audit logs, retention controls, encryption, and the ability to respond to a data breach with evidence | Partial — depends on the plan | ✗ — no tools to demonstrate compliance if your business is audited or if a breach occurs |
| Perth-based support through DM1 | ✓ — DM1 is an authorised Microsoft CSP partner | ✗ | ✗ |
| Approximate monthly cost per person (inc GST) | From ~$18 (Basic) to ~$35 (Premium, recommended) See our plan comparison page for the full breakdown |
From ~$12 to ~$30 depending on plan | ~$2–5 as a website add-on — but with none of the security, compliance or productivity tools included above |
Microsoft 365 pricing is indicative, inc. GST, based on current CSP rates at time of publication. Subject to change. Contact DM1 for a current quote.
Is Your Email Running Through Your Website Host?
If your email address is yourname@yourbusiness.com.au but it is managed through the same company that hosts your website — Crazy Domains, VentraIP, Netregistry, SiteGround or any similar provider — this section is specifically about you.
The email address looks professional. The infrastructure behind it is not built for business use. Here is what that means in practice.
Security problems you probably don't know about
- Your emails share a server with hundreds of other businesses. If any of them send spam, your emails can start landing in junk — even though you did nothing wrong
- Your email and your website live on the same server. If your website gets hacked — through an outdated plugin or theme — your email is compromised at the same time
- There is no protection against scam emails that look like they came from your business. Anyone can send a convincing fake invoice using your email address
- Basic spam filtering only — no protection against targeted attacks, fake supplier emails or business email compromise
- In most cases, anyone who knows your email password can log in from anywhere in the world with nothing to stop them
Day-to-day problems that slow your business down
- If your email is set up as POP3, emails download to one device and disappear from the server. If that device breaks or is stolen, those emails are gone permanently
- You cannot create a shared email address like info@ or accounts@ for your team to use together
- Storage is tiny — typically 1 to 5 GB per address. Many businesses quietly run out without realising it
- No way to keep emails for legal or compliance reasons — if you ever need to produce email records, they may simply not exist
- No record of who accessed what or when — if something goes wrong, you have no way to investigate
⚠ Your email address is tied to your website hosting account. If you ever move your website to a different provider, your email history goes with it — or disappears entirely.
Microsoft 365 Gives You the Real Word, Excel and PowerPoint
Microsoft 365 includes the full desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook installed directly on your computer — not a browser version, not a cut-down alternative. The same applications your staff already know, licensed for business use on up to five devices per person.
Google Workspace replaces these with Google Docs, Sheets and Slides — applications that run in your web browser. They work well for simple documents but fall short for anything complex. Spreadsheets with advanced formulas often break or behave differently. Word documents with tracked changes or detailed formatting frequently arrive looking wrong. If your business regularly exchanges files with clients or suppliers in Office format, this becomes a daily source of frustration.
What Happens When Something Goes Wrong
Business email is the number one way criminals target small businesses. Fake invoices that look like they came from a supplier. Emails pretending to be the boss asking for a bank transfer. Links that look legitimate but install software that locks your files until you pay a ransom.
Microsoft 365 — specifically the Business Premium plan — includes protection that scans every incoming email for dangerous links and attachments before they reach your staff, blocks login attempts from unknown locations even if a password has been stolen, and gives you the ability to remotely lock or wipe a phone or laptop that has been lost or stolen. It also keeps a complete record of who logged in, when, and from where.
None of that is available if your email is running through your website host. And with Google Workspace, you get solid spam filtering but not the same depth of business security tooling that Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes. For a full breakdown of what each Microsoft 365 plan covers, see our plan comparison page.
If Your Business Handles Client Information, There Are Legal Obligations to Consider
Healthcare practices, legal firms, financial advisers, real estate agencies, accountants and many other businesses deal with personal information as part of everyday work. Under Australian law, that comes with obligations — not just good intentions, but documented, demonstrable steps to keep that information secure.
The Privacy Act says you must protect client data
Any business that holds personal information — names, addresses, financial details, health records — must take reasonable steps to keep it secure. That obligation applies to what is in your email, not just what is in your filing cabinet.
If there is a data breach, you must be able to prove what happened
Under the Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme, if someone accesses your client information without authorisation, you are legally required to report it and notify the people affected. You cannot do that without a record of who had access and when.
The penalties are real and they went up in 2024
Fines for specific Privacy Act breaches can reach $62,600 per incident. From June 2025, individuals also have the right to take legal action directly against a business for serious privacy violations. Email hosted through a web provider gives you no tools to prevent or respond to any of this.
For more detail on how this applies to your specific industry, see our Privacy Act & Compliance page.
Switching is Straightforward — DM1 Handles Everything
Whichever platform you are currently on, moving to Microsoft 365 through DM1 is a managed process. Your email address stays exactly the same, your history is preserved, and you do not need to do anything technical yourself. DM1 coordinates the whole changeover.
Moving from web hosting email
DM1 copies your existing email history across before switching your email address over to Microsoft 365. Your email address stays exactly the same. Nothing is lost. The changeover happens outside business hours so there is no disruption to your day.
Moving from Google Workspace
DM1 moves your email, contacts, calendar and files from Google across to Microsoft 365. Your full history comes with you. Staff keep their email addresses and are up and running in Outlook from day one.
Already on Microsoft 365
If you are currently paying for Microsoft 365 through another provider or directly with Microsoft, DM1 can transfer your account. No data is moved, nothing changes for your staff — you just get local Perth support and competitive CSP pricing.
Why DM1?
DM1 has been supporting Perth small businesses since the 1970s. We are an authorised Microsoft CSP partner, which means we buy Microsoft 365 licences directly through the Microsoft partner channel and pass that pricing to our clients. When you have a question, a problem, or something needs to be sorted with Microsoft directly, you call one person in Perth who knows your setup — not a helpdesk, not a ticket queue.
Not Sure Which Setup Is Right for Your Business?
Call DM1 on (08) 6202 6012 or send a message. We will tell you exactly what you are currently on, what it is missing, and what it would cost to fix it — no obligation, no jargon.